| StorageSite | UCL Special Collections |
| Level | Item |
| Reference Number | MS LAT/12 |
| Title | Medical Treatises |
| Date | 13th century - 15th century |
| Description | Manuscript volume containing a compilation of medical treatises by various authors, including prescriptions and treatises on medicinal herbs. The contents date from approx. late 13th century to the 15th century and appear to have been re-ordered over time. With many later notes and corrections indicating that the texts were heavily used over a long period. All of the texts appear to have been written in England in a mixture of textura and anglicana scripts.
Includes copies of works by the C13th-C14th physician Bernard de Gordon such as his celebrated "Lilium medicinae" (Lily of Medicine), and 13th century physician and philosopher Petrus Hispanus (later Pope John XXI) including extracts from his Thesaurus Pauperum such as De provocacione menstruorum. Also includes various works in French and English.
The arrangement of the works within the volume is complex. For a full description of contents please see the sources listed under 'Finding Aids' below.
The binding is in extremely poor condition and lacks the spine cover. Imprints of text on the uncovered spine indicate that manuscript fragments may have been incorporated in the binding. |
| Extent | 1 volume containing 214 leaves |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
| AccessConditions | This item is not available for consultation due to its poor physical condition. |
| Related Material | University College London Special Collections, MS LAT 11, ff 324r-332v, has content similar to some passages in MS LAT 12. |
| FindingAids | Dorothy K Coveney, 'A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London' (London, 1935) and N R Ker, 'Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries' (London and Oxford, 1969), both give a detailed summary of the contents of the manuscript. |